Fun film but the opening credits were just weird.

This film is always fun when I watch it but I was thinking about the opening credits after my last viewing. The little boy dancing in circles while playing his harmonica really isn't that interesting, but then the colors start changing and the film is even reversed a few times so he starts walking backwards. Then there is a negative image of him and all in all it seems very much like a LSD driven trip. It just doesn't seem to fit the nature of a romantic comedy like Houseboat. I realize it was probably avant garde in 1958, but it does seem drug induced. I know Vertigo used a similar trippy opening a year later but it suits that film. I believe Saul Bass did the opening sequence for Vertigo, did he have anything to do with this film?


Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.